And........... another flood is on the way!

Last night saw 2 bands of rain come across the catchment corresponding to the front & back
of a low pressure system sweeping across which brought another 8mm rain here in Ballyduff.
In Mallow, there was 14mm including an inch of snow in the early hours.

The upper river peaked at midnight from the first band & @ 1.57m @ 08.00 as a result of the rain from the second band.  Up 40cm since yesterday afternoon.
 

Not as bad as expected...................

The band of rain that went through the catchment last night wasn't as bad as expected,
& the upper river at Millstreet only went up about 20cm.

The lower river has started to rise slightly, but was only (!) @ 2.09m @ 11.30 this morning.
If the weather stays any way dry at all, the rive could come down to the height when fish were caught last Wednesday (1.90m).

Don't even ask...........................................

This was the radar piocture at 05.00 this morning. Another band of rain came in
in the early hours of this morning with more for Wednesday & Thursday evenings!

The upper river peaked at 23.00 yesterday Monday 24^th & was falling until 05.30
when it started to rise yet again.

The lower river peaked @ 2.80m @ 04.00 yesterday Monday 24^th.
It was down to 2.08m @ 20.00 last night but has been rising steadily ever since yet again!
                    yesterday & up to 2.71m at 09.30 today Tuesday 25^th & still rising.

And another flood..........................................

Heavy rain swept from the West right across the catchment this afternoon & we had 10mm fell here
at the Lodge.  This was the picture @ 18.00.

 By 21.00 the back of the rain belt had cleared the catchment, but there is another band of rain
due early in the morning, followed by yet more rain on Wednesday & Thursday evenings.

  

This afternoon's rain has already brought the upper river at Millstreet up a metre by 21.00.

The river at Ballyduff is just starting to rise again at 21.00 this evening.

And........ yet another flood and......... more rain to come tonight!

This was the river below the Lodge @ 08.00 this morning Monday 24th.
The river peaked at 2.80m on the Ballyduff gauge @ 04.00 this morning.

The upper river had peaked at mid-day yesterday & is now falling.
10mm rain fell here late yesterday. There is yet more rain forecast for tonight.

It looks as if the river won't be fishable for much of this coming week.

Yet another flood - & yet more rain tomorrow...................................

This was the river below the Lodge peaking at 17.00 today @ 2.48m.

The river went completely out of order once again today.
Worse still - there's yet another band of rain coming in tomorrow evening.

The upper river @ Millstreet peaked @ mid-day - up 1.30m.

The First Springers caught on February 19th....................

For the second time in the last 3 years the Lodge has had the privilege
of landing the First Salmon of the Season from the Cork Blackwater.

I took Charles Quesada from France (who is on work experience at the Lodge)
out yesterday for his first ever day salmon fishing.

It was the first day that the lower river was looking even moderately fishable.

It was 1.82m on the gauge, but the clarity was almost 3 feet.

We only got to the river at 12.00 & by 12.45 Charles had landed his first ever kelt.

At 14.45 he landed the first salmon of the season from the entire Blackwater system

which I was able to verify with IFI staff.

The fish was a beautiful fresh chunky fish which didn't appear to have any sea-lice.

It weighed 6lb. & was safely released. The spinner had fallen out in the net!

Second Springer

The same day another fresh salmon was landed on one of our beats
on the upper river by Mark Gledhill (UK) which jumped free
from in the net (the spinner was hooked up inside the net!)
after being played for 20 minutes.
It was a bar of silver which was estimated at ~15lb.

This was the river below the Lodge at 12.30 today Saturday 22^nd. Gauge height  1.80m.

The river is still holding at a high level @ 1.82m on he Ballyduff gauge.